-Hear Me Out-
Outreach
Survey
The purpose of this survey was to gain insight from tertiary students about their knowledge and awareness on the topic of challenges faced by students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH). This target audience was chosen as they would most likely be classmates of DHH students, thus their level of interaction with DHH students and sphere of influence is most relevant to this topic. In total, 104 responses were obtained with 66% of respondents claiming that they are aware of difficulties faced by DHH students when it comes to studying or socializing.
In general, most respondents felt that the difficulties faced by DHH students were mainly to do with physical hearing while only a small percentage were aware that DHH students experienced learning and social difficulties as well. In addition, 99% of respondents answered ‘Friends’ when asked who they taught were most capable of supporting DHH students in class. Compared to ‘Teachers’, only 93% felt that educators play a part in supporting DHH students. Other responses to the same question include the roles played by family members and counsellors or social workers. Lastly when asked how they thought they could best support DHH students, the majority of answers suggested physical methods to improve the hearing capability of DHH students such as by speaking louder or by shifting the DHH student closer to the teacher. This was next followed by a group of respondents who addressed the emotional needs of DHH students saying that being patient and more understanding towards these students can help alleviate their challenges. Notably, there was a small group of respondents who also wanted to emphasize the need to be more inclusive in terms of encouraging and involving DHH students in their friendships and classroom discussions.
Through this survey, it is encouraging to see that many hearing students, who do not face the same challenges DHH students do, are aware that the classroom experience may not be the same for everyone. However, there is still room for improvement when it comes to understanding what exactly our DHH friends need and how we can best support them apart from physical methods which can sometimes be limited by financial resources and availability of materials such as FM technology and audio induction loops.
As seen in Academic Research article #1, many DHH students feel that socioemotional challenges are what truly impacts them as it impairs their ability to self-identify. This can then lead to a cascade of psychosocial effects that hinder DHH students as they may not feel included both in and out of the classroom. Therefore it can be seen that the actual problems faced by DHH students do not necessarily align with what the majority of us hearing students assume they face. Hence, it is imperative that we raise awareness on the needs of DHH students and how educators can play a greater role in fostering relationships in the classroom that displays empathy, encourages inclusivity while improving hearing.
Michael
Michael was born deaf in Singapore, he attended University in the Philippines where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree. He was also received his education in Canossain School for the hearing impaired and then in mainstream schools throughout his educational life. I chose Michael as an interview candidate as he represents students who are totally deaf and yet have attended mainstream schools. He is also currently a tertiary student himself.
Questions asked during the interview include:
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Do you think students in mainstream schools who are hard-of-hearing/deaf face challenges when it comes to studying? What about challenges when socializing?
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How do you think these challenges may change in future for students when it comes to learning or socializing?
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What can be done to support students who are hard-of-hearing/deaf in mainstream schools? Who can help in a school environment?
In response to these questions, Michael feels that there is insufficient support from hearing people such as family and school administrators due to a lack of awareness of deaf culture. In his opinion, some challenges include discrimination and stereotype where people believe DHH students can hear when they wear hearing aids or that they are incapable of learn anything since they cannot hear. Michael personally feels that it will take a long time before change can be observed, particularly in Singapore, due to the lack of support for DHH students as compared to other countries like Philippines or Malaysia.
Lastly, in his opinion, Michael feels that teaching resources such as third person assistants who can type notes for deaf students in the class or tuition cost remissions for deaf students are what truly matters and can help these students in their classroom experience. More importantly, he feels that there is a need to introduce at least a basis of special education in schools to raise awareness about the challenges faced by DHH students and that the responsibility falls on the government to recognize and support this issue.
Charlyn
Charlyn is a Year 2 student in Temasek Polytechnic’s Diploma in Veterinary Technology. She is hard-of-hearing and has graciously provided me with insight into some of her struggles as a hard-of-hearing tertiary student in a mainstream school. I chose Charlyn as a possible interview candidate as she was one of the first few students I had interacted with in TP, thus my personal experience working with her was also one of the factors that led me to choose this project topic.
Questions asked during the interview include:
1) In your opinion, do you think that having a hearing impairment is a disadvantage when it comes to being a student?
2) Have you ever faced challenges in school (sec sch or poly) when it comes to socializing or studying because of hearing difficulty? What are some of these difficulties?
3) What do you think can be done to support students like yourself? Who do you think can help in a school environment?
To summarise her answers to the above questions, Charlyn often feels that her condition tends to puts her at a disadvantage compared to her hearing peers as she frequently needs to rely on others to repeat information that was said earlier or due to her worry of not being heard clearly compared to her peers during assessments such as class presentations. Although Charlyn describes herself as someone who is actively sociable, she still faces social challenges such as embarrassment during face-to-face conversations when she feels the need to ask others to repeat themselves. Other situations include feeling hurt when a person passes an ignorant comment or makes a joke about her condition. Overall, Charlyn feels that understanding and awareness raised among friends and teachers are the best forms of support a DHH student can have. Through their awareness of her challenges, Charlyn feels that she can be better understood and allowed to have equal opportunity to excel compared to her peers.